Pipes, concrete chunks, rocks and barbed wire now jut from the sand at the Wedge after hurricane-driven swells stripped away layers of beach that had buried the debris for decades.

"There's erosion with just rocks sticking out, you know, barbed wire even in some places, and it's just really dangerous," Newport Beach resident Matthew Deller told KTLA, as reported by Patch on Wednesday, Aug. 19.

City Council member Erik Weigand acknowledged the city has identified sand it could move to the area but said getting it there is "the real tricky part," he told KTLA.

Newport Beach Lifeguard Battalion Chief Adam Yacenda told the Los Angeles Times on Monday, Aug. 17, that the department is aware of the problem. He said PVC pipes, wires, a railway tie and metal are underneath the water, calling them things that "haven't seen the light of day in decades."

Some residents believe the exposed material is part of an old groin structure built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to protect oceanfront homes near the harbor entrance. The city has not officially confirmed the origin of all the debris.

At least three hurricanes have developed in the central and eastern Pacific since July, including Hurricanes Fausto and Genevieve, which sent life-threatening waves and strong rip currents toward Southern California beaches. A growing El Niño pattern is compounding the erosion threat; the 2015-16 El Niño was blamed for record beach loss along the state's coast.

The problem is not new. In June, Newport Beach Public Works Director Dave Webb told the Orange County Register that any sand replenishment project at the Wedge would require new permits, funding and regulatory approvals. "I don't even know where we would get the sand to begin with," Webb said at the time.

Webb also said the beach had historically recovered on its own when northerly winter swells push sand back. But the erosion has continued through the summer. Bodysurfer Sean Starkey, who owns Costa Mesa-based Yucca Fins, told the Register in June that rocks were tumbling down the beach and boulders had appeared that longtime regulars had never seen.

During a massive swell on June 9, waves reached 20 to 25 feet at the Wedge and Newport Beach Lifeguard Chief Brian O'Rourke reported roughly 1,200 people on the beach that morning. In June, lifeguards took approximately 12,000 preventive actions and carried out more than 500 rescues, according to the Times.

No timeline for a sand replenishment project has been announced, and no public meeting on the issue is scheduled. Residents can report beach hazards to the city's non-emergency line.